President’s Voice ÔÇô Gideon Sam

Updated: May 23, 2012

This column comes to you from faraway Canada where I’m happy to say that we’ve arrived safely in Quebec City for the Sport Accord gathering.

We come to this gathering to rub shoulders with the opinion makers and trendsetters in the world of sport. The leaders of world sport gather here for a week and appraise themselves about the various issues in sport.

These issues are very varied as can be seen from the programme. Day one kicked off with: “What is good governance in sport and why does it matter?”

Two debates followed this: “Given the monolithic and plenary authority of international sport and national sports governing bodies, what does good governance require?” and “Do good governance principles keep sport out of court?”

I’d very much like to share the outcome of this debate with the South African sports fraternity in my next update. The reason for doing so will be quite obvious if the recent inputs at our Presidents’ Council are taken into consideration.

Another interesting topic is: “What will the top ‘game changers’ in sport be doing over the next decade?” As sports leaders we need to understand and participate in these debates to stay on top of our game.

It’s also interesting to note the number of cities that come to this gathering. Sport is big business in this age and these cities all want a piece of that business. Just think of the number of people who gathered here for this conference.

I’m told you have to book very well in advance to get a seat in a restaurant these days. There is a special Quebec Dining Experience evening set aside for the delegates and the restaurants are really buzzing! Talk about boosting the economy of a city and this is it how its done.

How I wish our cities back home can partner sport to achieve what other cities in the world regard as important issues.